Dispenser for tea bags



May 3, 1938. F. COO PER DISPENSER FOR TEA BAGS Filed Nov. 5, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l FELIX COOPER May 3, 1938. F. COOPER I DISPENSER FOR TEA BAGS Filed Nov. 5, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. C O O P E R 7 0 5 7 5 5 1 5. R H 3 o 6 J ATTORNEY.

Patented May 3, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,115,923 I I DISPENSER non TEA BAGS Felix Cooper, Brooklyn, N Y. Application November 5, 1936, Serial No. 109,296

. 3 Claims.

This invention relates to dispensers for teabags and the like, and provides improvements therein.

The invention provides a dispenser from which 5 tea-bags are readily removed, and of a character to promote the sale of tea-bags. It is advantageously made and used as a counter device and for that purpose is so constructed as to display and advertise the goods. It also provides a knockdown device of the character described, to facilitate shipment.

An embodiment of the dispenser is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view looking at said embodiment from the front;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3-3, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a rear plan view with the parts in knockdown position.

Referring to said drawings, numeral l designates a board, l2 a cartouch or tube-like magazine attached to said board for containing a stack of tea-bags, and I4 an easel for supporting said board and cartouch in upright position. In the preferred embodiment, the cartouch or magazine I2 is mounted on the back of board Hi, and the easel I4 is arranged on the same side.

The bottom of the cartouch has a shelf 20 with an opening 2| therein somewhat smaller than the area of the tea-bags a, on which the tea-bags stacked in the cartouch, rest. In packing or stacking the tea-bags, the tags and strings y, z are so arranged that they lie on the underside of each of the tea-bags. The tag and string 1/, z of the lowermost tea-bag in the cartouch, thus arranged, drops through the extraction opening 2| and the tag hangs below the cartouch in a manner to be readily grasped. The tea-bags being pliant, are readily extracted from the cartouch, one by one, through the opening 2|, by grasping the tags 1/ and pulling on the string 2 attached to the tea-bags.

To provide access to the tag and string y, z of the lowermost tea-bag :1: in the magazine l2 in the form in which it is mounted on the back of board l0, an opening 25 is provided in the board ID.

The board I0 may be supported in an upright position in any suitable manner. Preferably such support is an easel l4, forming a unitary part of the dispenser. The easel M is also preferably of a box-like character and formed in such manner that the space or foyer 21 below the shelf 25 and behind the opening 25 is closed. To this end, the easel l4 may comprise a pair of spaced brackets 3|], 3|, and a transverse brace 33. The

brackets 30, 3|, brace 33, and shelf 20 are advantageously formed in one piece of cardboard or the like, and attached to the back of the board H] by suitable means. Advantageously the attachment may be by means of tabs 34, 35 formed as projections from the shelf 20, which tabs 34, 35 are fastened to the back of the board In in any suitable manner as by means of an adhesive. The brace 33 is fastened to the brackets 30, 3| in a suitable manner. To provide a knockdown construction the brackets and brace are conveniently fastened together in an assembled position of the parts by means of hooked ears 43, 4| and slots 42, 43, the construction and arrangement being such that the ears 40, 4| may be forced through the slots 42, 43 with slight distortion, the reflex of the parts from the distortion being such that the hooks on the ears 40, 4| engage the outer sides of the brackets 30, 3| adjacent the slots 42, 43. In the form of embodiment Where the brackets 30,. 3|, brace 33 and shelf 23 are formed in one piece, the material is bent along the dotted lines 45, 46, 41, 4B, and the material may be advantageously scored or otherwise adapted to facilitate bending.

In the assembled position of the parts 30, 3|, 33 and 20, the shelf 20 closes the top of the space or foyer 2'|,the brackets 30,3 the two opposite sides, and the brace 33 closes the back of the said space or foyer. The bottom of said space 21 is closed or partly closed by the surface of the counter or table on'which the dispenser stands.

The tube or magazine l2 may also be constructed as to have the capability of being knocked-down so as to lie flat against the back of the board H). To this end the magazine may be formed of cardboard or the like having sides 58, 5|, 52 and tabs 53, 54, which tabs may be fastened to the back of the board ID in suitable manner, as by means of an adhesive. The corners between the sides 50, 5|, 52 and the tabs 53 and 54 may be scored or otherwise constructed and arranged to facilitate bending, as indicated by the dotted lines 56, 51, 58, Fig. 4. The top of the magazine |2 may be provided with a lid 63 to cover the top. The lid 60 may be formed in one 50 piece with one of the sides 50, 5|, 52 and scored as indicated by the dotted lines 62 to facilitate opening. The lid 63 may also be provided with a tongue 64 which folds on the dotted line 66," and which is inserted into the magazine, fric- 55 tion between the tongue 64 and the inner surface of the part of a magazine holding the lid in closed position.

Means may be provided for fastening the magazine to the shelf 20 when the latter is constructed as a part of the easel, as heretofore described. The aforesaid means advantageously comprise one or more ears I at the bottom end of the magazine which may be inserted in slots I3 in the shelf 20. One of the ears, as indicated at I5, may be provided with hooked ends, and one of the slots, as indicated at 11 may be bowed, the construction and arrangement of the ears 15 and slot 11 being such that the ear 75 may be slightly deformed so as to be passed through the slot 17, and after passing through said slot spring back in such manner that the ears thereon engage the underside of the shelf adjacent the slot TI.

The front of the board I0 may be and preferably is provided with an opening 80 running lengthwise of the magazine I2 so as to display the contents of tea-bags m. The opening 80 is preferably covered with a transparent material 82. A great number of suitable transparent materials are available. Cellulose acetate in sheet form may be mentioned as an example.

Advertising matter may be printed on the face of the board It, as indicated at 90.

With the dispenser in upright position, the customer or salesperson grasps the tag which hangs down behind the opening and pulls it. The pull deforms the lowermost tea bag a: to which the tag 1/ on a string a are attached, and pulls it through the opening 2I in the shelf 20, leaving the tea bag above it in the magazine resting on the shelf 20. The tea bag :c succeeding the one which is removed, and the other tea bags in the stack are so arranged that the tags y and strings z are below each tea-bag and as each succeeding bag becomes the lowermost in stack, its tag y and string 2 fall into the foyer or space 27 behind the opening 25 in position to be readily grasped and pulled.

To facilitate the loading of the magazine I2 with tea bags, a trough I00 open longitudinally along one side, and at the bottom, may be provided. The aforesaid trough I00 may be packed with the tea bags 3:, with the tags y and strings 2 arranged in the manner heretofore described, and the trough then inserted through the top of the magazine with its open end lowermost, and with its open side facing the opening 80 in the board I0. A strip I05 may be placed across the open end of the trough I00, which strip I05 acts to hold the tea-bags in the trough while it is being inserted into the magazine I2, and said strip I05 may be removed to allow the stack of tea-bags to rest on the shelf 20, by reaching through the openings 25 and 2I when the trough I00 is in the magazine, and forcibly removing the strip I05. 1

The invention may receive other embodiments than that herein specifically illustrated and described. c

What is claimed is:

1. A dispensing apparatus for tea-bags and the like comprising a board, a tubular magazine mounted on the rear side of said board, a shelf secured to the base of said magazine for supporting a stack of tea-bags in said magazine, said shelf having an opening therein smaller than the tea bags, and the tea bags normally resting on the-marginal edges of the shelf around the opening therein, said tea-bags when pulleddistorting sufficientlylto pass through said opening, said board having an opening below the said shelf through whichthe hand may beinserted to extract tea-bags from said magazine, and a box-like easel securedto the rear side of said board behind said hand-opening closing the space at the sides and rear of said hand-opening.

2. A dispensing apparatus for tea-bags and the like comprising a board, a tubular magazine mounted on the rear side of said board, a shelf at the baseof said magazine for supporting a stack of tea-bags in said magazine, said shelf having, an opening therein smaller than the tea bags, and the tea bags normally resting on the marginal edges of the shelf around the opening therein, said tea-bags when pulled distortingsuf ficiently to pass through said opening, said board having an opening below the said shelf through which the hand may be inserted to extract teabags from said. magazine, and a box-like'easel corners between the brackets, brace andshelf being bendable and, saidshelf being hinged to said board, so thatthe easel may be collapsed to lie flat upon said board.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising detachable fasteningmeans between said brackets andlsaidlbrace, and between said magazine andsaid shelf.

FELIX COOPER. 

